Discovering that blooms were vanishing from his wife’s tomb, a prosperous man set up a surveillance camera, and after viewing the recording, the husband was utterly stunned…

Michael didn’t know how to tell the boy that they were going to his mother. What if his friend was mistaken and it wasn’t her there? It could be quite traumatic for the child. We’re going to visit one of my good acquaintances, he lied.

Oh, okay. The children didn’t need much. They drank juices and watched cartoons on the tablet the whole way.

Soon, the maternity hospital appeared on the horizon. It was an old two-story building made of red brick. Linda certainly didn’t end up there for a good reason.

Perhaps she didn’t want publicity. Surrogacy isn’t exactly advertised, or maybe there wasn’t enough money for a good clinic. It was strange.

The maternity hospital stood in the wilderness on the outskirts. Around it were ruins, steps and plantations. Well, here we are.

Let’s get out. Michael opened the car door and the children jumped out. Approaching the doors of the maternity hospital, he encountered an elderly plump woman in a white coat.

Hello? Is Linda Johnson here? He asked quietly, while Adam got distracted, examining an old wooden carved door. Yes, she’s here. Come in.

Are you the father of the twins, then? Thank God you were found. The mother was already ready to write a refusal. She kept saying that nobody needed her with three children.

Michael and the children were dressed in special visitor gowns. They weren’t allowed into Linda’s room, of course. They were told to wait in a small shabby corridor where family visits were permitted.

A slender blue-eyed blonde with shoulder-length hair walked in unsteadily. She was pale but incredibly beautiful, even without make-up, wearing a gown and slippers. Michael smiled, looking at her.

He had expected a worn-out housewife, not a Barbie doll. Mum, shouted Adam, and almost knocked Linda off her feet. There was a flash of confusion in her eyes.

The boy hugged her so tightly that Linda lost her balance for a moment. Michael jumped up to catch her, but she steadied herself. You found her! Where have you been? I missed you so much, Mummy! Adam cried bitterly.

Linda looked at him in surprise. Then something seemed to flash in her eyes. It was as if she returned to the day she last hugged her son on the threshold of her home.

Her elderly mother had handed her money for the trip and stay in the capital and smiled, saying, Everything will be fine, dear. I’ll earn money, we’ll get you the operation, and you’ll be running around like young again. Her mother needed vascular surgery, a rather expensive procedure.

There were few good specialists, and the necessary equipment was only available in the capital. Linda feared her mother wouldn’t hold out, waiting for a quota. The doctors confirmed her condition was worsening day by day.

Age was taking its toll. Surgery was needed quickly. Linda left, leaving her mother and son behind, looking out the window on the way and trying to think about how she would take care of her mother after the operation.

Along with her in the train carriage sat a sullen young man, an elderly woman with him asked to switch places with her. The grandmother found it difficult and scary to climb to the upper bunk. Linda agreed, thinking that perhaps someone would help her mother in a similar way one day.

Linda remembered when the next station was announced. She jumped up, realized she had dozed off, and started gathering her things quickly. Outside the train, it was completely dark.

Dim lamps lit up some roadside eatery. The train stopped and Linda got off. A few other people got off with her.

She didn’t know the area. She planned to get to the eatery and ask for directions there, but she didn’t make it. Knocker out, knocker out, came a voice from behind.

Linda turned around, but didn’t have time to see anything. At that moment, she received a powerful blow to the head. Everything afterward was a blur.

She remembered fragments of coming to consciousness, seeing dirt, feeling intense cold, unable to move or speak. There was no one around. She lay there for a long time, not even remembering how long exactly.

It was cold and icy winter rain was pouring down. Then she woke up as someone was placing her on a stretcher. She’s still alive, she heard a voice above her.

Let’s get her into the car quickly. Who knows how long she’s been lying here. It got a bit warmer.

Linda passed out again and woke up in a hospital. She didn’t even remember being washed and changed into warm, dry clothes. She felt comfortable…